Improved apparatus fob supplying air to life-boats



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l Letters Patent No. 65,953, dated June 18, 1867; l

IMP'BOVBD APPARATUS FORSUPPLYIN G AIR-T0 LIFE-BOATS.

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i TO ALL WHOM IT-MAY CONCERNr' Be it known that I, PETER :F.YSCHENCK, of" Riceville, in the county of Monmouth, and State of New Jersey, have invented a. new and improved Apparatus for Supplying Air to Life-Boats; and I do hereby declare that the following. is a full, clearand exact description thereof', which will enableothers skilled in the artto make and-use the same, reference being` had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in whicho l y Y t y Figure 1 is a perspective view of the air-tube containing my improved apparatus for supplying fresh air to life-boats.L t i Figure 2 is a centrallongitudinal section of the same when-in proper position for operatingto supply air.

Figure 3 is the samewiew when the appar: tus'is reversed and not in position for operating to supply air.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

lfhe object of this invention is the saving of human .life in case of shipwreck, by supplying a life-boat or vessel with rfresh air for the respiration of passengers contained in the vessel which is otherwise hermetically sealed, while at the Sametime the sea water shall be ellcctually excluded. b'.lhe apparatus for this purpose eonsists'ot` air-tubessecured in the sides of the vessel with one end on the inside and the other on the outside,

Y placed, when the vessel is righted in a vertical or nearly vertical position, with thelower end above the waterline. The principle of operation is the contrary action of two or more ball valves of different specific gravity, one of which balls made of metal, being heavierthan water, shall sink and close the scat of a passage against L the admission of water Awhen the vessel is in one position, andthe `other ball, made of wood, cork, or other sub stance lighter than water, shall float and close the seat of a passage to exclude the water under certain conditions, while neither the heavy nor light ballsshall operate as closing valves against the free passage of air into thevessel under other conditions.

B represents the inside of the hull .of a life-boat, provided vwith air-tight chambers which contain the passengers, and A. is a straight air-tali@ made of brass or other suitable metal several inches in diameter, passing through the vessels' side, and placed vertically to the water line with the outside end of the tube above the water level, as high as the deck will allow the inner' endrt'o bc placed within thevvessel. This tube may be arranged in the side of the vessel by letting the two ends into proper cavities in the hull of the vessel, the lower end into aA recess on the outside, and the upper end of the tube into a recess on the inside of the vessel, as shown in iig. 1i The air-tube A is divided into transverse sections, joined by screwing the ends into each other, to

form two vnlvechambers 1 2, with air-passages connecting them and also running to and from them. In the chamber YNo. 1, in the lower end of the tube, iig. 2, is placed a wooden or cork ball, W, and in'thc chamber No. 2, is placed a metall ball, M. The lower end of the `tube A is open for the admission 'of air from the outside ot' the vessel up through the passage a, which enters theplowei` sid'o of valve-chamber No.1, where the said airpassage a terminates in a seat upon which tire wooden ball W may rest, while the air can pass up into thc lower chamber through small holes or air-passages by its side, and thence pziss up through the passage a into the valve-chamber No. 2, through similar small ain-passages by the side of the metal ball-M, which rests on a similar scat in the lower side of this upper valvefchamber.v The air will continue to pass forwardthrough the passage a into a side brancher spout, C, which opens into the inside of the life-boat. This movel'uentof the airthrongh the tube A, indicated by arrows fig. 2, depends onrthe position vof the vessel being such that the lower end of 'the t'ube shall be above the water level, where the sca cannot ent-cr it. But thcterms of the problem proposed for solution by this apparatus, are the complete exclusion lof the sea water under all conditions and positions of the vessel, while provision isalso made for the admission of air into the vessel. Now-if the vessel becomes submerged, although keeping au even keel, the water will rush up through the lowcr end of the tube, and if not stopped in its passage through the tube would ow into the lifeboat and ll it; but when the water in such u.

case strikes the wooden ball W, the. ball will float and rise with the water against the upper side of the chamber No. 1,"where it will enter a conical seat, and acting as aval-:e will close the passage al against the entrance of the water any further. This then is the oiliee ot' the light ball valve W to shut out the water when it rises in thetube A, as shown in. red, iig. 2. If, however, the vessel should capsize, the conditions would. he changed nnd the iloatball lve'W would vnot operate. `In this case the water will also rush into the reversed end of the l" their P0 tube A, and pass through the Vchamber No. l, and theipassage al into; theehamber No. 2, butit cannot pass any further, because the metal ball Mwll then have settled into a. conical seat atlthe mouth of the pirssuge n?, and stopped it effeetually, nsvshown in 3. l This .is the oce of tlieheav'yl ballfv-lve M, to stop the passage of the water through the tube Aivhenh@` )vessel upsets. :t As a further provision` against the passage ofl Water into the vessel when she lies over on her-side by rolling, a chamber', No. 3, is madein the spout C, which has u'.

conical valve-seat at each end. ,A metal ballyN, is placed in this chamber, by the side (lf-'which the air can pass under ordinary circumstonces,'bntwhenthevvessellies over on hrerrrsidej .Seither wey, lthe' mtal ball N will roll into the sent at one or other end of the chamber No. 3 and close it, thus shuttingout the water eleetually if any should pass the other valves. Still further to guard against accidental disarrangement or inoperativeness of all the valves, the bran'chjpipe-orspout C is provided with n faucet or thumb-vhlv'e'jb, by which the passengers in the vessel can shut oil` the Water when actually necessary.

These air-tubes may be made of any size and in any number, and adapted to vessels` properly constructed for the wrecking service, and thus the admission of an abundance oli fresh air my be Vsupplied to an air-tight life-boat? series of these air-tubes will be arranged to operate whenr the vessel is .upside 4down by reversing 'btion,`as njellas when she sets even on her keel, and every position kin whichfa. vessel nmy be placed can be ivrovided'llfor'by airV-tubesin a, corresponding position:

` Having thusdescrbed my invention, what I claim nsnew, and desire to .secure Letters' Patent, is-

An apparatus consisting of tubes containing ball valves of diferent specific gravity, adapt-ed to opernte in l combination with a. closed life-boanfor the purl-Jose of admitting fresh nirthersi and vexcluding water there from, substantially as described,

;. BETER E. SCHENCK.

.Witnesses: y. i y y WM. F. McNAMAR'A, y ALEX. F. ROBERTS. 

